We prove that there exists a supersingular nonsingular curve of genus $4$ in arbitrary characteristic $p$. For $p>3$ we shall prove that the desingularization of a certain fiber product over $\mathbb{P}^1$ of two supersingular elliptic curves is supersingular.
We determine what isogeny classes of supersingular abelian surfaces over a finite field k of characteristic 2 contain jacobians. We deal with this problem in a direct way by computing explicitly the zeta function of all supersingular curves of genus 2. Our procedure is constructive, so that we are able to exhibit curves with prescribed zeta function and to count the number of curves, up to k-isomorphism, leading to the same zeta function.
One of the big questions in the area of curves over finite fields concerns the distribution of the numbers of points: Which numbers occur as the number of points on a curve of genus $g$? The same question can be asked of various subclasses of curves. In this article we classify the possibilities for the number of points on genus 4 hyperelliptic supersingular curves over finite fields of order $2^n$, $n$ odd.
We describe the intersection of the Torelli locus $j(\mathcal{M}_4^{ct}) = \mathcal{J}_4$ with Newton and Ekedahl-Oort strata related to the supersingular locus in characteristic two. We show that the locus of supersingular Jacobians $\mathcal{S}_4\cap\mathcal{J}_4$ in characteristic two is pure of dimension three. One way to obtain that result uses an analysis of the data of smooth genus four curves and principally polarized abelian fourfolds defined over $\mathbb{F}_2$, and another involves studying the Ekedahl-Oort types and using the indecomposability of some $\mathrm{BT}_1$ group schemes.
We describe a method to show that certain elliptic surfaces do not admit purely inseparable multisections (equivalently, that genus one curves over function fields admit no points over the perfect closure of the base field) and use it to show that any non-Jacobian elliptic structure on a very general supersingular K3 surface has no purely inseparable multisections. We also describe specific examples of such fibrations without purely inseparable multisections. Finally, we discuss the consequences for the claimed proof of the Artin conjecture on unirationality of supersingular K3 surfaces.
Let C be a supersingular genus-2 curve over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 3. We show that if C is not isomorphic to the curve y^2 = x^5 + 1 then up to isomorphism there are exactly 20 degree-3 maps phi from C to the elliptic curve E with j-invariant 0. We study the coarse moduli space of triples (C,E,phi), paying particular attention to questions of rationality. The results we obtain allow us to determine, for every finite field k of characteristic 3, the polynomials that occur as Weil polynomials of supersingular genus-2 curves over k.
This paper determines the normal forms of hyperelliptic supersingular curves of genus g over an algebraically closed field F of characteristic 2 for 0 < g< 9. We also show that every hyperelliptic supersingular curve of genus 9 over F has an equation y^2-y=x^19+c^8x^9+c^3x for some c in F_2bar. The paper determines the dimensions of the open locus of hyperelliptic supersingular curves of genus g < 10 over F_2bar.
We present an oblivious transfer scheme that extends the proposal made by Barreto, Oliveira and Benits, based in isogenies supersingular elliptic curves, to the setting of principally polarized supersingular abelian surfaces.
L. Moret-Bailly constructed families $\mathfrak{C}\rightarrow \mathbb{P}^1$ of genus 2 curves with supersingular jacobian. In this paper we first classify the reducible fibers of a Moret-Bailly family using linear algebra over a quaternion algebra. The main result is an algorithm that exploits properties of two reducible fibers to compute a hyperelliptic model for any irreducible fiber of a Moret-Bailly family.
The supersingular K3 surface X in characteristic 2 with Artin invariant 1 admits several genus 1 fibrations (elliptic and quasi-elliptic). We use a bijection between fibrations and definite even lattices of rank 20 and discriminant 4 to classify the fibrations, and exhibit isomorphisms between the resulting models of X. We also study a configuration of (-2)-curves on X related to the incidence graph of points and lines of IP^2(IF_4).
In general, the L-polynomial of a curve of genus $g$ is determined by $g$ coefficients. We show that the L-polynomial of a supersingular curve of genus $g$ is determined by fewer than $g$ coefficients.
Let $X$ be a smooth proper genus 2 curve over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2. The absolute Frobenius induces a rational map $F$ on the the moduli space $M\_X$ of semi-stable rank 2 vector bundles over $X$, which is isomorphic to a 3-dimensional projective space. Y. Laszlo and C. Pauly recently gave the equations of $F$ for an ordinary $X$. Using deformation, we give these equations for a supersingular $X$ and draw some consequences such as the base locus of $F$ (one point), or the stability of the complementary Zariski open set.
We exhibit the isogeny classes of supersingular abelian threefolds over F_{2^n} containing the Jacobian of a genus 3 curve. In particular, we prove that for even n>6 there always exist a maximal and a minimal curve over F_{2^n}. All the curves can be obtained explicitly.
We introduce and study a new way to catagorize supersingular abelian varieties defined over a finite field by classifying them as fully maximal, mixed, or fully minimal. The type of $A$ depends on the normalized Weil numbers of $A$ and its twists. We analyze these types for supersingular abelian varieties and curves under conditions on the automorphism group. In particular, we present a complete analysis of these properties for supersingular elliptic curves and supersingular abelian surfaces in arbitrary characteristic, and for a one-dimensional family of supersingular curves of genus $3$ in c…
We study genus 2 curves over finite fields of small characteristic. The $p$-rank $f$ of a curve induces a stratification of the coarse moduli space $\mathcal{M}_2$ of genus 2 curves up to isomorphism. We are interested in the size of those strata for all $f \in \{0,1,2\}$. In characteristic 2 and 3, previous results show that the supersingular $f=0$ stratum has size $q$. We show that for $q=3^r$, over $\mathbb{F}_q$ the non-ordinary $f=1$ and ordinary $f=2$ strata are of size $q(q-1)$ and $q^2(q-1)$, respectively. We give results found from computer calculations which suggest that these formul…
We prove that the supersingular K3 surface of Artin invariant 1 in characteristic p (where p denotes an arbitrary prime) admits a model over IF_p with Picard number 21.
The purpose of this note is to suggest an analogue for genus 2 curves of part of Gross and Zagier's work on elliptic curves. Experimentally, for genus 2 curves with CM by a quartic CM field K, it appears that primes dividing the denominators of the discriminants of the Igusa class polynomials all have the property 1) that they are bounded by d, the absolute value of the discriminant of K, and 2) that they divide d-x^2, for some integer x whose square is less than d. A slightly stronger condition is given in Section 3. Such primes are primes of bad reduction for the genus 2 curve and primes of …
A curve over a perfect field $K$ of characteristic $p > 0$ is said to be superspecial if its Jacobian is isomorphic to a product of supersingular elliptic curves over the algebraic closure $\overline{K}$. In recent years, isomorphism classes of superspecial nonhyperelliptic curves of genus $4$ over finite fields in small characteristic have been enumerated. In particular, the non-existence of superspecial curves of genus $4$ in characteristic $p = 7$ was proved. In this note, we give an elementary proof of the existence of superspecial nonhyperelliptic curves of genus $4$ for infinitely many p…
We prove results about the intersection of the p-rank strata and the boundary of the moduli space of hyperelliptic curves in characteristic p > 2. Using this, we prove that the Z/\ell-monodromy of every irreducible component of the stratum H_g^f of hyperelliptic curves of genus g and p-rank f is the symplectic group Sp_{2g}(Z/\ell) if g > 2, f > 0 and \ell is an odd prime distinct from p. These results yield applications about the generic behavior of hyperelliptic curves of given genus and p-rank. The first application is that a generic hyperelliptic curve of genus g > 2 and p-rank 0 is not su…
Boix, De Stefani and Vanzo have characterized ordinary/supersingular elliptic curves over $\mathbb{F}_p$ in terms of the level of the defining cubic homogenous polynomial. We extend their study to arbitrary genus, in particular we prove that every ordinary hyperelliptic curve $\mathcal{C}$ of genus $g\geq 2$ has level $2$. We provide a good number of examples and raise a conjecture.
Let E be an elliptic curve defined over a finite field. Balasubramanian and Koblitz have proved that if the l-th roots of unity m_l is not contained in the ground field, then a field extension of the ground field contains m_l if and only if the l-torsion points of E are rational over the same field extension. We generalize this result to Jacobians of genus two curves. In particular, we show that the Weil- and the Tate-pairing are non-degenerate over the same field extension of the ground field. From this generalization we get a complete description of the l-torsion subgroups of Jacobians of su…
In this paper we prove that there are no hyperelliptic supersingular curves over F_2bar of genus 2^n-1 for any integer n>1. Let g be a natural number, and h=floor(log_2(g+1)+1). Let X be a hyperelliptic curve over F_2bar of genus g>2 and 2-rank zero, given by an affine equation y^2-y=c_{2g+1} x^{2g+1} +...+ c_1 x. We prove that the first slope of the Newton polygon of X is bigger than or equal to 1/h. We also prove that the equality holds if (I) g<2^h-2, c_{2^h-1} is nonzero; or (II) g=2^h-2, c_{2^h-1} or c_{3(2^{h-1})-1} is nonzero. We prove that genus-4 hyperelliptic curve over F_2bar are pr…
Let $p$ be an odd prime number and be an integer coprime to $p$. We survey an algorithm for computing explicit rational representations of $(\ell,...,\ell)$-isogenies between Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves of arbitrary genus over an extension $K$ of the field of $p$-adic numbers $\mathbb{Q}\_p$. The algorithm has a quasi-linear complexity in $\ell$ as well as in the genus of the curves.
There are open questions about which Newton polygons and Ekedahl-Oort types occur for Jacobians of smooth curves of genus $g$ in positive characteristic $p$. In this chapter, I survey the current state of knowledge about these questions. I include a new result, joint with Karemaker, which verifies, for each odd prime $p$, that there exist supersingular curves of genus $g$ defined over $\overline{\mathbb F}_p$ for infinitely many new values of $g$. I sketch a proof of Faber and Van der Geer's theorem about the geometry of the $p$-rank stratification of the moduli space of curves. The chapter en…
A superspecial curve is a (non-singular) curve over a field of positive characteristic whose Jacobian variety is isomorphic to a product of supersingular elliptic curves over the algebraic closure. It is known that for given genus and characteristic, there exist only finitely many superspecial curves, up to isomorphism over an algebraically closed field. In this article, we give a brief survey on results of counting isomorphism classes of superspecial curves. In particular, this article summarizes some recent results in the case of genera four and five, obtained by the author and S.\ Harashita…
Let $p$ denote an odd prime. In this paper, we are concerned with the $p$-divisibility of additive exponential sums associated to one variable polynomials over a finite field of characteristic $p$, and with (the very close question of) determining the Newton polygons of some families of Artin-Schreier curves, i.e. $p$-cyclic coverings of the projective line in characteristic $p$. We first give a lower bound on the $p$-divisibility of exponential sums associated to polynomials of fixed degree. Then we show that an Artin-Schreier curve defined over a finite field of characteristic $p$ cannot be …
We show that for all odd primes $p$, there exist ordinary elliptic curves over $\bar{\mathbb{F}}_p(x)$ with arbitrarily high rank and constant $j$-invariant. This shows in particular that there are elliptic curves with arbitrarily high rank over these fields for which the corresponding elliptic surface is not supersingular. The result follows from a theorem which states that for all odd prime numbers $p$ and $\ell$, there exists a hyperelliptic curve over $\bar{\mathbb{F}}_p$ of genus $(\ell-1)/2$ whose Jacobian is isogenous to the power of one ordinary elliptic curve.
If $π: Y \to X$ is an unramified double cover of a smooth curve of genus $g$, then the Prym variety $P_π$ is a principally polarized abelian variety of dimension $g-1$. When $X$ is defined over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $p$, it is not known in general which $p$-ranks can occur for $P_π$ under restrictions on the $p$-rank of $X$. In this paper, when $X$ is a non-hyperelliptic curve of genus $g=3$, we analyze the relationship between the Hasse-Witt matrices of $X$ and $P_π$. As an application, when $p \equiv 5 \bmod 6$, we prove that there exists a curve $X$ of genus $3…
Let E be the supersingular elliptic curve defined over k, the algebraic closure of the finite field with two elements, which is unique up to k-isomorphism. Denote by 0 its identity element and let C be the quotient of E-{0} under the action of the group Isom(E) (which is non-abelian, of order 24). The main result of this paper asserts that the set C(k) naturally parametrizes k-isomorphism classes of Lamé covers, which are tamely ramified covers of the projective line unramified outside three points having a particular ramification datum. This fact is surprising for two reasons: first of all, i…
We show that there is a good notion of irreducible sympelectic varieties of $\mathrm{K3}^{[n]}$-type over an arbitrary field of characteristic zero or $p > n + 1$. Then we construct mixed characteristic moduli spaces for these varieties. Our main result is a generalization of Ogus' crystalline Torelli theorem for supersingular K3 surfaces. For applications, we answer a slight variant of a question asked by F. Charles on moduli spaces of sheaves on K3 surfaces and give a crystalline Torelli theorem for supersingular cubic fourfolds.
We explicitly find an equation and a projective embedding of the Kummer surface associated to the Jacobian of a curve of genus 2 given by an equation of the form y^2 + h(x)y = f(x) over an arbitrary ground field as well as several maps that can be used to perform arithmetic on it. This extends earlier work by Flynn and has applications, for instance, in computations of canonical heights for genus 2 Jacobians and in cryptography.
We present a probabilistic Las Vegas algorithm for computing the local zeta function of a genus-$g$ hyperelliptic curve defined over $\mathbb F_q$ with explicit real multiplication (RM) by an order $\Z[η]$ in a degree-$g$ totally real number field. It is based on the approaches by Schoof and Pila in a more favorable case where we can split the $\ell$-torsion into $g$ kernels of endomorphisms, as introduced by Gaudry, Kohel, and Smith in genus 2. To deal with these kernels in any genus, we adapt a technique that the author, Gaudry, and Spaenlehauer introduced to model the $\ell$-torsion by stru…
Minimal tori that are linearly full in the 3-sphere possess a natural invariant g called their spectral genus, which was introduced by Hitchin. We show that for each g>0, there are countably many real g-dimensional families of minimally immersed tori with spectral genus g (two of these dimensions are just reparametrisations of the torus). Each family maps from a fixed torus of rectangular conformal type.
In this paper we construct examples of commuting ordinary scalar differential operators with polynomial coefficients that are related to a spectral curve of an arbitrary genus g>0 and to an arbitrary rank r>1 of the vector bundle of common eigenfunctions of the commuting operators over the spectral curve. This solves completely the well-known existence problem for commuting operators of arbitrary genus and arbitrary rank with polynomial coefficients. The constructed commuting operators of arbitrary rank r>1 and arbitrary genus g>0 are given explicitly, they are generated by the Chebyshev polyn…
This paper concerns K3 surfaces with automorphisms of order 11 in arbitrary characteristic. Specifically we study the wild case and prove that a general such surface in characteristic 11 has Picard number 2. We also construct K3 surfaces with an automorphism of order 11 in every characteristic, and supersingular K3 surfaces whenever possible.
We prove that the vector bundles of conformal blocks, on suitable moduli spaces of genus zero curves with marked points, for arbitrary simple Lie algebras and arbitrary integral levels, carry unitary metrics of geometric origin which are preserved by the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov/Hitchin connection (as conjectured by Gawedzki). Our proof builds upon the work of Ramadas who proved this unitarity statement in the case of the Lie algebra sl(2) (and genus 0). We note that unitarity has been proved in all genera (including genus 0) by the combined work of Kirillov and Wenzl in the 90's (their approach…
We define the singular elliptic genus for arbitrary normal surfaces, prove that it is a birational invariant, and show that it generalizes the singular elliptic genus of Borisov and Libgober and the stringy $χ_y$ genus of Batyrev and Veys.
Higher rank Brill-Noether theory is completely known for curves of genus $\leq 3$. In this paper, we investigate the theory for curves of genus 4. Some of our results apply to curves of arbitrary genus.
We study genus 2 covers of relative elliptic curves over an arbitrary base in which 2 is invertible. Particular emphasis lies on the case that the covering degree is 2. We show that the data in the "basic construction" of genus 2 covers of relative elliptic curves determine the cover in a unique way (up to isomorphism). A classical theorem says that a genus 2 cover of an elliptic curve of degree 2 over a field of characteristic different from 2 is birational to a product of two elliptic curves over the projective line. We formulate and prove a generalization of this theorem for the relative si…
A formula for the generating function of the Weil-Petersson volumes of moduli spaces of pointed curves that is identical to the genus expansion of the free energy in two dimensional gravity is obtained. The contribution of arbitrary genus is expressed in terms of the Bessel function $J_0$.
In this paper, we show that Severi varieties parameterizing irreducible reduced planar curves of a given degree and geometric genus are either empty or irreducible in any characteristic. Following Severi's original idea, this gives a new proof of the irreducibility of the moduli space of smooth projective curves of a given genus in positive characteristic. It is the first proof that involves no reduction to the characteristic zero case. As a further consequence, we generalize Zariski's theorem to positive characteristic and show that a general reduced planar curve of a given geometric genus is…